Episodes from a medical student's perspective

Tag Archives: Wholeness day

Today I was told that I was to go away to a place to reflect. Ideally, I was to go to a place far from home to get away to reflect. When I think of where I am in life now (finishing up medical school) as much as I would have liked to go away today I really just wanted to enjoy personal quiet time at home. For me, my home is a little sanctuary of peace and rest. There are all kinds of trees , shrubs, and flowers around my home. As I was taking time enjoying my backyard filled with chirping birds and sweet smelling roses I realized how blessed I am to not have to travel far to take in nature. In the future I want to continue to have my home be a sanctuary of peace. Presently I am in limbo as I am extending my senior year of medical school. As I look back at my time here in medical school I know for certain that it has been a growing experience. Not only in knowledge but in just about every area of my life. More on that later.

I also took time today to do one of my favorite hobbies that unfortunately I don’t get to do enough of if I’m not at home: bake. My fascination with the oven began in childhood around the age of 7. Captivated by the commercials for the “Easy-Bake” oven toy, I asked my mother if I could get one even though I knew the answer was going to most likely be “no” due to the fact that there wasn’t enough money for extra things of that sort and I already had enough toys.
So being the stubborn and determine little girl, I figured I’d learn to use the real oven we had. I climbed up a chair onto the kitchen counter to better reach a cabinet where I knew my mother kept her cookbooks and started looking for a recipe. I had previously attended a Vacation Bible School where I had learned some basics about cooking with recipes, measuring ingredients, etc and so when I found a simple sugar cookie recipe, I began the hunt for the needed items. I preheated the oven and found the electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar.
It was the noise of the mixer that got my mother’s attention. She came over to the kitchen to see what I was doing and just stood by my side allowing me to continue with my project. She didn’t scold me for touching the oven. She didn’t try to take over my baking project. She allowed me to continue as I was so that by doing I would learn.
My mother has always been supportive of my efforts. She has always been there to watch me as I grow and has allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them. I did bake those cookies all by myself with only my mother’s aid to get them out of the oven. Some of the cookies were a little burnt and many subsequent batches of dough have been scorched since that time but each time I’ve learned how to do it a little better. Now every Christmas season I make sugar cookies to decorate with colored frosting with close friends or family depending on where I happen to be that year. Thanks to my mother (who is not a baker) I have honed my skills as a baker and its this same loving support she has given me that has enabled me to pursue a career in medicine.